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L'Elegant
L'Elegant (formerly L'Elegance) was a Michelin 3 star restaurant in central London, which came under the ownership of celebrity Jeremiah Creosote from 1994 - 2005. Serving French Cuisine, it opened on 8th May 1982 and received intimidate praise for its high quality food and service. Under Creosote reviews worsened and L'Elegant's profits plummeted, causing its closure. Under Creosote's ownership the name was changed to "L'elegant" as he believed this to be more refined. For 5 years the restaurant functioned as it had previously done, with the same staff, menu and practices. It also benefited considerably from Creosote's very public ownership and occasional presence in the dining room. By 2000 this effect had worn off and Creosote became increasingly involved in its operations, making constant changes to the staffing and menus. The numbers of customers dwindled and L'elegant found it increasingly hard to break even, by 2003 it was thought to be an outright drain on Creosote's finances, which he denied. In 2005 L'elegant appeared on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Series 2, which unearthed unprofessional and nonsensical cooking and service practices. Creosote himself barely appeared onscreen, though the episode concluded with the audio of a private meeting between Ramsey and Creosote, in which Creosote refuses to agree with any of Ramsey's criticisms or recommendations. After the episode aired the restaurants' reputation was so ruined it began to loose and estimated £5,000 a night. History L'Elegance was opened in 1982 by Maximilian Brodeur, a successful French businessman and chef from Lyon who had always dreamed of opening a restaurant in a capital city. He had planned the enterprise, for many years, recruiting some of the finest chefs he had met in the industry, and having them agree to give up their current jobs when he eventually opened a restaurant in exchange for high wages and other perks. While Brodeur's own cooking skills were relatively unremarkable, his way with business and accounting were praised by most who worked with him, and by the early 1980s he had the funds necessary to buy a property in central London and transform it into a restaurant. Thanks to the employment of good chefs, the food at L'Elegance was immediately praised by critics and customers. Constant improvements to the service and some original recipes saw it earn its Michelin 3 stars a few years later. It was often mocked by Londoners and the press as being overly upper-class, with door staff refusing anyone not in expensive dinner clothing. The interiors and decoration didn't help matters, with one critic remarking, "when one enters its like stepping back into the 1920s". However, by 1990 there was a noticeable drop in attention, and the regular improvements and changes ceased. Now it was well established, Brodeur increasingly took a hands off approach, focusing on other business projects. This neglect, and the rise in competitors in the late 80s as the economy improved, saw L'Elegance fall behind somewhat among London restaurants, and by its 10th anniversary in 1992 it was already being accused of being out of date. Ownership Change Mr Creosote first dined in L'Elegance in 1989, while in London for the Stained Tablecloth Tour. He immediately formed a liking for its upper class style and its food, and became a full-time patron. After acquiring his manor in Scotland, he was forced to make less regular visits, but still made an internal flight from Inverness to Heathrow at least once a month just to dine there. He became dismayed at the news of the falling profits and reputation of the eatery, blaming them on "bent journos", and proclaiming it "the finest dining in all Europe". He became increasingly interested in its business affairs however, often talking directly with Brodeur due to his generous patronage of the establishment. By 1994 L'Elegance's profits were dropping enough to concern Brodeur, and the sudden resignation of 3 of its major chefs that year escalated the situation. However, he resolved to continue L'Elegance no matter what, reasoning that the lower chefs had learnt enough that it didn't matter. He went back to his old hands on approach, re-occupying the restaurant's back office and working the floor and kitchen on most nights. However, on the 5th July Creosote visited L'Elegance late in the evening, entered Brodeur's office and showed him tomorrow's copy of The Sun, which he claimed he had access to due to his contacts there. It displayed the headline "London Restaurant Infested With Rats! Shocking discovery at L'Elegance", Brodeur was said to have broken down in tears, cursing and claiming his life's work was ruined. By the morning ownership of L'Elegance had mysteriously changed hands to Jeremiah Creosote for a price well under the true value, and no story about a rat infestation appeared in the papers. Mr Creosote renamed the restaurant L'Elegant almost immediately, his previous liking for the word was shown in the song L'Elegant Sunset and the film Murder on L'Elegant Express!. While it was left to "tick over" for the remainder of the 90s, L'Elegant was increasingly interfered with by Creosote's visits, where he would "play manager" and make inexplicable changes. In 2000 he took up the role officially, and began making full time menu and staff changes, mostly for the worse, and the restaurant lost its 3 star rating in 2001, going into steep decline, with longer waits for service, and poorer food. Kitchen Nightmares Episode Creosote agreed to feature L'Elegant on Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares in 2005 in the hopes of saving it from its predicament, but what followed was described as "one of the most bizarre episodes of the show". At the start of the episode Ramsey meets the regular staff and enquirers about the owner and which days he works. He is met by indirect answers, with most of the staff fearful of saying anything bad about Creosote, eventually it transpires he "shows up at random" and nobody knows if he will be present during Ramsey's visit. While Ramsey waits for his food he utters, "Jesus Christ I think I just saw him", but the camera pans over to an apparently empty corner of the room, with only a moving curtain to suggest someone's recent presence. Creosote isn't seen for the remainder of Ramsey's first visit, where he criticizes the food quality and waiting times, and finds the kitchen to be in disarray. He discovers endless inexplicable containers of foods which aren't even on the menu and shouts "what in the fuck is this doing here?", and finds the same reluctant fearful responses from staff. One chef claims Creosote prevents bad food being thrown out by saying "I might finish it off myself later", and that he orders in a variety of expensive produce as "you never know what you need". On Ramsey's second visit overseeing a service from the kitchen, he discovers the food in the food-lift has been moved back down without explanation, delaying the order. When he asks the nearest member of staff he claims Creosote "sometimes uses them for bringing up his snacks", prompting him to run upstairs to try and find Jeremiah. Creosote is finally filmed across the large dining room picking a chip off a service tray before it is wheeled to its table. Ramsey says "he's just fucking eaten off that- unbelievable", and goes to confront him, however Creosote moves off once again to the upstairs section, causing Gordon to say "well fuck this I'm not fucking chasing the owner around his own restaurant.", and head back into the kitchen. As the disastrous service continues, Gordon claims it to be "the most nonsensical inefficient thing I've ever seen", and continues to be baffled by the use of clipboards by waiting staff. When Gordon asks "Why don't you just use regular notepads", he is shown the elaborate checklist and categories for taking orders and checking they've been completed, and its explained to be a personal invention of Creosote from 1 year ago. Gordon responds "Why am I not fucking surprised". While he interviews this staff member Creosote appears suddenly behind Gordon's shoulder, causing the camera man to gesture and for Gordon to whirl round. Creosote is heard saying h"ello Gordon!" in a friendly manner, but swiftly clamps a large hand over the camera, saying "I don't wish to be filmed at this time thankyou", when Gordon points out "its part of being on the show", Creosote becomes more openly aggressive saying, "well not tonight!", and the microphone is heard being batted by one of his hands. Many speculated Creosote's reluctance to appear was partly because of his weight at the time, having reached his all time peak of 480lbs. The episode concludes with the audio from a meeting between Ramsey and Creosote, where Ramsey lists all of the faults and flaws he found in the last 2 days. This includes all of the menu troubles, decorations, cooking practises, storage methods and poor hygiene. Creosote dismisses all of these out of hand, and claims L'Elegant has been the subject of a media smear campaign orchestrated by George Hudson. Once it becomes apparent Creosote won't make the changes suggested, Ramsay leaves the restaurant for good. Closure After the episode was aired profits plummeted further, largely as it revealed some unpalatable foods and preparation. Creosote denied the estimate of a loss of £5,000 a day, claiming business was "better than ever". Besides the waste on produce, the restaurant spent 4 months with both air conditioning and heating running at full, as Creosote became too hot and turned up the air conditioning, forgetting to adjust the heating itself. Staff were too fearful to correct him on this decision. However, as Creosote Inc.'s own fortunes took a downward turn, Creosote could no longer afford to prop the business, and he announced its closure in July. However, he attempted to hold a "regulars whip around" to "keep this artery of the London dining scene alive". Which failed miserably, only garnering 1 donation of £2,000 from friend Augustus Constantine. L'Elegant subsequently closed in a storm of publicity, as Creosote attempted to cast himself as being "run out of town by the buggerin' council", which had no basis in fact whatsoever.